Hearing set on whether law protects texts between Melodie Gliniewicz and late husband

Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune

Melodie Gliniewicz exits the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan with her legal team after a 2016 hearing on charges of theft from the Fox Lake Police Explorers. She was back in court Wednesday after an appellate court ruling on pretrial issues.

Melodie Gliniewicz exits the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan with her legal team after a 2016 hearing on charges of theft from the Fox Lake Police Explorers. She was back in court Wednesday after an appellate court ruling on pretrial issues. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

An appellate court-ordered hearing has been scheduled on whether texts between Melodie Gliniewicz and her late husband, Fox Lake police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, can be used as evidence in her pending theft trial.

Lake County Circuit Judge James Booras on Wednesday set the hearing for Feb. 21, after the 2nd District State Appellate Court ruled last year that Booras erred in not allowing a hearing on the issue to be held, and directed that one be scheduled.

Booras also set a trial date of July 1 for Gliniewicz, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Kenneth LaRue.

A trial date had been put on hold while the issue was at the appellate level.

LaRue said the ruling allows the state to subpoena any texts or emails found on the couple’s telephones.

Defense attorneys are expected to file additional discovery and pretrial motions on the issue, officials said.

Gliniewicz was indicted in January 2016 on charges of money laundering, misuse of charitable funds and conspiracy in the wake of her late husband’s death, which authorities concluded was a staged suicide following a massive hunt for alleged killers.

Police and prosecutors allege that Melodie Gliniewicz participated in her late husband's alleged scheme to siphon money from the Fox Lake Police Explorer youth policing program, and used it for personal expenses such as meals and entertainment

Lake County prosecutors argued in pretrial appearances that texts and emails between Gliniewicz and her husband are important to the case and by law are not covered by spousal protection laws. Defense attorneys asserted they are, and had been successful in that position before Booras.

Booras ruled against the state and granted a defense motion to exclude the communications. Booras also denied a state motion to reconsider the issue. But after review, the appellate court directed Booras to schedule and hold the hearing.

The ruling stated that “the trial court erred in denying the State’s motion to reopen the proofs on the motion. The order denying the motion to reopen the proofs is reversed and remanded for further proceedings.”

The communications in question are texts and emails between the married couple. The state said in its appellate briefs that Gliniewicz had signed a consent to search her phone in October 2015.

Defense Attorney Donald Morrison has previously said that while Gliniewicz signed an FBI consent form involving her phone, the state failed to include the consent form to use any evidence from her phone, making the request a year after evidence was being finalized in the pretrial process.

Prosecutors have responded that they did not receive the consent document until April of 2018.

Joe Gliniewicz shot himself to death in 2015, as it appeared his alleged theft was about to be exposed to village officials. He died in a remote area of Fox Lake after reporting to a police dispatcher that he was chasing three suspects on foot, prompting a massive police search.

After a hero's funeral, investigators determined he staged his suicide to look like a line-of-duty death.